Song in my head: He's got big balls.....she's got big balls.....But we've got the biggest balls of them all........................AC/DC

ALTER-ABLED NEWS

This month has been brutal. Between a dislocated, inflamed knee and a newly dislocated shoulder I feel like gnawing a few appendages off. My shoulder socket isn't formed correctly and pops out or compresses nerves as I move my arm up or down. The excruciating pain is dwindling my supply of medical marijuana. January is a cold wet month in Oregon and I swear I can tell when storms are coming by the pain in my joints. I refuse to use Bextra, a COX2 inhibitor that is quite effective for pain from osteo-arthritis. I will be seeing my primary care doctor on Wednesday and discussing why I will not be taking a couple of drugs he recommended at my last visit, Bextra and Strattera. I have a ton of bookmarks regarding the COX2 inhibitors, Bextra, Vioxx, and Celebrex.

Jan 31, 2005

More evidence links Celebrex to heart problems

A consumer advocate Monday accused Pfizer, the maker of Celebrex, of hiding the results of a study in which patients who took the drug were 3½ times more likely to have a stroke, heart attack or other serious cardiovascular problem than those on a placebo.
Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen's Health Research Group had petitioned the Food and Drug Administration on Jan. 24 to ban Celebrex and Bextra, the only COX-2 inhibitor pain relievers still sold in the USA. Meanwhile, Kaiser Permanente has decided to stop dispensing Bextra at its California pharmacies because of cardiovascular safety concerns.

Group Calls on FDA to Pull Pfizer Pain Drugs

U.S. regulators should pull Pfizer Inc.'s arthritis drugs Celebrex and Bextra from the market because they are too risky, U.S. consumer watchdog group Public Citizen said in a letter on Monday.

Jan 30, 2005

HMO Bans Pfizer's Cox-2 Inhibitor Bextra

The largest HMO in the United States has banned the dispensing of the arthritis painkiller Bextra made by Pfizer, because it could possibly up the risk of heart attacks and strokes in some patients.

Jan 27, 2005

Penn Researchers Add More Evidence To Demonstrate Role Of COX Inhibitors In Heart-disease Risk

In two articles, published in Circulation, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine provide further evidence for the role of cyclooxygenases (COX) in heart-disease risk. In one, a statistical meta-analysis of two placebo-controlled trials, the COX-2 inhibitor Bextra elevated the combined incidence of heart attack and stroke three-fold in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery patients. In the second, the investigators found that a fat produced by COX-1 speeds hardening of the arteries in a mouse model of atherosclerosis, which may have implications for low-dose aspirin therapy in heart patients.

Jan 25, 2005

Up to 140,000 heart attacks linked to Vioxx

Up to 140,000 extra heart attacks may have been caused in the US by the recently withdrawn drug Vioxx since its launch in 1999, suggests a new study. And millions of people may have been exposed unnecessarily to the risk of heart attack by taking Cox-2 inhibitor drugs, including Vioxx, when they did not need the medicines, according to a second study.

Jan 22, 2005

First trial over painkiller Vioxx due in May

The first trial over whether the now-withdrawn painkiller Vioxx caused patient heart attacks, strokes or death could come as early as May.

Merck & Co. pulled Vioxx from the market in September after a study found that it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes. At least 700 lawsuits have been filed over Vioxx, according to research by The Associated Press.

Jan 4, 2005

FDA: Scientist can publish controversial Vioxx safety data

The Food and Drug Administration has given a scientist permission to publish data indicating that as many as 139,000 people had heart attacks that may be linked to Vioxx, the scientist's lawyer said Monday.

Jan 4, 2005

Some painkillers damage intestine, U.S. expert says

More than 70 percent of patients who took painkillers such as ibuprofen for a study suffered damage to their small intestines, U.S. researchers reported Monday.
The study is yet another blow to patients trying to find ways to treat arthritis pain, after reports that the most advanced drugs, called COX-2 inhibitors, can raise the risk of heart death.

Dec 24, 2004

F.D.A. Urges Doctors to Limit Their Prescriptions for a Pair of Popular Painkillers

The Food and Drug Administration recommended Thursday that doctors limit prescriptions for the popular pain pills Celebrex and Bextra because recent studies have suggested that they may increase the risk of heart attack and ... The agency's advisory did not ban prescriptions of the drugs for any group of patients,...

Dec 23, 2004

FDA urges limits on Celebrex, Bextra

The Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory Thursday, recommending doctors limit the use of Pfizer Inc.'s Celebrex and Bextra to patients who can't take other pain medicines.

Dec 20, 2004

Pfizer Pulling Advertising for Celebrex

Pfizer Inc. says it will immediately pull advertising for its top-selling arthritis pain reliever Celebrex, whose safety was called into question last week after a study found an increased risk of heart attacks in patients taking high dosages of the drug.

Dec 15, 2004

Penn Epidemiological Study Shows Difference In Cardiovascular Effects Between Vioxx And Celebrex

In the first epidemiological study designed and executed specifically to determine the heart-attack risk associated with COX-2 inhibitors rofecoxib (Vioxx) and celecoxib (Celebrex), researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found a greater risk of heart attack associated with Vioxx than Celebrex, although neither of the two drugs showed a statistically significant elevated risk of heart attack relative to people who did not use the drugs. In addition, the researchers found discrete clinical differences between the two COX-2 inhibitors -- which suggest that the effect of the drugs on the cardiovascular system should be viewed separately rather than as a single class of drugs. This study appears online December 7, 2004 and will be published in the February 1, 2005 print issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Dec 14, 2004

Vioxx plan transfers burden

Merck develops a friendlier program to provide refunds to the consumers of its recalled pain-relieving drug
Oregon regulators announced Monday that drug maker Merck has agreed to simplify and extend the nationwide refund program for consumers who had taken its recalled pain drug Vioxx.

Dec 13, 2004

Now, legal system to make diagnosis on VioxxHundreds of Vioxx lawsuits are being filed — but proving drug caused problems may not be easy

As lawsuits blaming the pain pill Vioxx for heart attacks, strokes and even deaths continue to mount, doctors say proving the drug caused the medical calamities could be difficult.

Dec 10, 2004

Warning will be added to arthritis drug Bextra

The arthritis drug Bextra will begin carrying a warning on the label about possible heart and blood-clotting problems, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday.